The Passport Romance
by Portia Adams
Summary: WIP. JimmyHailey. How did they go from Jimmy driving her home from the strip club to dating? All the passport scenes we missed from last season.
1. Default Chapter

No one says anything as they walk back to the black Mercedes. Jimmy keeps a hand under Hailey's elbow until he opens the door for her. As she slips into the car a purple welt is visible for a second under the edge of her tank top. Shutting the door, he fights the impulse to go find that sleaze and leave a few marks on him. The knowledge that the guy had a few inches and fifty pounds holds him back.

She could have been hurt badly. Hell, she might have been hurt badly. She could have been killed. Suddenly he couldn't bear to think of a world that didn't include Hailey Nichol.

Once in the car he turns on her seat warmer and hands her his sport coat. "Do you need to go to the hospital?" he asks, but Hailey simply shakes her head no and stares out the window.

"I didn't need saving." She finally speaks, after twenty minutes of sitting as close to the door as possible and not saying anything.

"No, I could see that you had the situation completely under control," he answers back. He keeps his eyes on the road ahead, so that he doesn't have to acknowledge the tears dripping down her face. "Hailey, everyone needs help sometimes. It's the waiting to late to ask for it that tends to cause problems. Trust me on that one."

"It would have worked out." Even she can hear the petulance in her voice. "It wouldn't have been forever."

There are no words to say to her. He can't force her to go to Kirsten's, can't force her father to reinstate her trust fund, can't do anything. He can't fix her life anymore than he can fix his own. If she wants, she can get out of his car and go back to that club, and anything could happen to her and he might not even know about it.

"Jimmy, can we stop at Krispy Kreme?" Hailey asks suddenly. "There's one at the next exit."

"What?"

"You know, donuts? I like chocolate frosted. I'm so totally famished, and god knows Sandy cries if I eat all the carbs in the house. You'd think he was on South Beach or something. Besides, they'll only have bagels and I'm going to need sugar. And maybe coffee. Or hot chocolate. What do you think?"

She's smiling at him, sort of. It's more of a resigned smile than a happy smile, but it is a smile. "I think hot chocolate."

While Jimmy orders half a dozen chocolate-frosted donuts Hailey reverts to staring out the window. One more time that she screws up and her family has to bail her out. Kirsten in her entire life only did one thing without parental consent- getting pregnant with Seth and marrying Sandy- and it worked out perfectly. Well, okay, now that she'd taken in Ryan she'd done two. But still. Kirsten takes in a juvenile delinquent and it still works out perfectly. Nothing she'd done since her mother died had worked out the way she wanted it to.

"Maybe I was wrong." Jimmy says as he hands her a donut, and for a moment she wants to giggle as their hands touch. Honestly, she can't think of a more inappropriate response. Well, besides jumping him in the car. That would be inappropriate. When someone rescues you from a bad situation (especially when it involves you nearly naked and money) that you mixed your foster nephew of sorts and that someone's kid into, there is no jumping or giggling.

At least that night.

Deciding that the donut was her best ally, she bit into it before responding. "Wrong about what?"

"Leaving Newport. Maybe leaving before everything is settled just means that you have to come back until it is."

"I'll cling onto that while living up to my name as the family screw-up," she could tell he was about to respond, so she shoved half her donut into his mouth with a smile. "To the Cohens', James," she says in her best Noopsie voice and smiles her first real smile of the night.

"You really don't have to do this. My car will be out of storage by tomorrow," Hailey says as she collapses into his front seat. "I mean, you do kind of have a restaurant to open."

"Yeah, and you kind of need your stuff. And I just keep having this image of you running back to your old job."

"You just like thinking of me taking my clothes off," she tells him with a grin. He totally checks her chest out when she says it. The tank top she dug out of the pile of things she left at Kirsten's last time has a complicated lacing action that just begs to be undone. It was purposefully worn. "I forgot to say something last night."

"I'm almost afraid to ask."

"Thanks. For coming to get me, for not saying anything...just thank you. You, Jimmy Cooper, are a good guy."

He looks over in the passenger seat, and suddenly Hailey looks very real. A very real person who has gotten herself into trouble, who smiles when she sees him, who thinks he's a good guy. The memory of the exact taste of Hailey's mouth comes over him- some mix of orange and mint and chocolate. The weight of her hand on his wrist when they had dinner at the Lighthouse. God, he's acting worse than Marissa.

The place she's been living post-boat is not the greatest. Hell, she thinks probably even Ryan would shudder and she'd bet it would take a lot to shake up that kid. He says nothing, but carries the heavy box down to the car. Anyone else would have said something.

When they put the last load in the car, she knows she has to say something. "I know its not, it's just that..."

"Hailey, I'm a felon."

"Um, yes." She smiles again, a sudden, uncertain smile as if she can't quite figure out where he's going with this.

"I'm just saying, it's going to take more than a legal job and a skuzzy apartment to really throw me. You'll have to up the rebellion a few notches."

There is nothing to do but laugh and get back into Jimmy Cooper's car. Again.


	2. Chapter Two: The Telling of the Truth

Hailey tentatively knocked on the office door. What were the rules for this exactly? That was something else she would need to figure out. There was a whole list of those things. How to talk about your stripper past with your loved ones. How to not freak out the guy you can't stop kissing. Or stop holding hands with during Seder under the table. Honestly, even when she was a little girl with a crush on Jimmy she'd never thought he'd be as good of a kisser as he was. And thinking of her little crush on Jimmy was just adding to the weirdness of it all, so she tried to think of someone else.

"Come in," Jimmy said, and then with a smile when he saw it was Hailey, "Hey, you." Another blue shirt. But damn if he didn't look hot in it.

Her thumbs were stuck in the front of her skirt like she was looking for pockets. She had done the same thing that night in LA, so he took it to mean something was making her nervous. "I just...is this cool with you?"

Sliding an arm around her waist, Jimmy smiled at her. "Well, I can think of how it could be better, but there are people outside."

"Jimmy, seriously." She pulled back a bit so she could look him in the eye. "Is it cool that I'm working here? I know that when Sandy asked you couldn't exactly say no, because currently we're carrying some kind of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra before the press found out relationship?"

"I have no idea what you just said, but yes, I'm fine with you working here. This was supposed to be my happy place, you fit that description." Hailey was relaxing into his arm when they heard voices outside the door.

"Julie." Jimmy groaned and leaned his head against her forehead.

"My dad."

"My happy place is gone again."

"My dad is just here to take me to lunch. The How My Daughter Became a Stripper and Failed Her Family Again lunch. Hopefully there will be mimosas."

"You haven't talked yet?"

"I've only been home three days. Between Sandy's mother's visit, and going to get my stuff, I just haven't had time. Kirsten doesn't even know yet, which is kind of awkward since everyone else in the house does, and it's not like Seth or Sandy are so good at the secret keeping. Ryan worries me less. Anyway, that'll be another fun conversation. At least with Kirsten I can be assured of merlot."

He settled for kissing her quickly on the forehead just before the door slammed open without knocking and her father and Julie came in.

"Jimmy! What are you doing closeted with Hailey when you need to be supervising the construction staff..." Julie started as a way of saying hello.

"I was officially hiring Hailey as hostess," Jimmy cut in.

Caleb beamed at his daughter. As much as he was capable of beaming. "Congratulations, Hails."

Julie started to speak, but looked at Caleb and managed not to say a word.

After a quiet ride to the restaurant, Caleb barely waited for the waiter to hand them their menus. "Are you looking forward to working at the restaurant?"

Hailey half smiled. "Jimmy is very excited, and Sandy."

"So it might give you incentive to stay?" He asked without looking up from the menu.

Hailey stared at her father's menu. "That, and other stuff. Maybe I've just finally realized that until I come to terms with...Newport, I can't have a life anywhere else either. Not that I really know what I'd want a life outside of here to be." That actually sounded really good. Maybe she was on to someting.

"It's just that I have to know where you are, Hails. That's what I wanted this winter, just for you to stay and not disappear, nor for you to..."

Hailey felt wretched. Not for you to royally screw up, and disappear and...

Her dad reached across the table to grab her hand, and Hailey almost flinched in surprise. Physically affectionate had never been Caleb's MO. "Don't ever not come to me for help. I didn't build the Newport Group so that my daughter would be..."

Unsuccessful at even being a trust fund baby? End up as a stripper?

"Ever since you've started disappearing I've been waiting for someone from the State Department to call saying they found your passport, and you're gone. I don't want to ever get it. You can have any kind of life you want, Hails."

That horrible feeling was in her chest again, like a Land Rover was on top of her while she trying to shed her skin. She hated that feeling. It was half the reason why she kept leaving, because only her father and Kirsten ever made her feel that way.

Her father lay a checkbook on the table.

"What's that?" Hailey asked. "Or rather, why is that on the table?"

"A checking account for you. The credit cards are on their way. I'm not giving you money to run away, or not giving you money to stay here. Just build a life. Don't be one of those women whose lives revolve around fundraisers and whatever ridiculously named exercise class is the hottest." Any other time she would have laughed. Julie Cooper probably talked about yogalates constantly.

"Dad, I don't think I can let you..."

"I invested money in Sandy and Jimmy's restaurant. I like the idea of you working there. Newport people will like having a Nichols as the hostess. Good for everyone. And it will give you a chance to decide what exactly you want to do."

It was at moments like this that she knew her father really did love her; that she wished that she could be a better daughter. That their relationship could be as simple as it once was, when she was a little girl whom he taught to sail. That she could go back to the fifteen year old who thought her dad was perfect, before actions that she still didn't understand, or want to think about, twisted their relationship.

"Thanks, Daddy," she said softly. A better person would refuse the money, she knew, and insist on doing everything on her own. Thank god she wasn't a better person. She was in desperate need of some clothes.

After the food arrived, Caleb looked out at the shoreline. "We've been eating here since you were a little girl. You always liked the water. Kirsten and your mother were always seasick, but you never were. I remember teaching Jimmy to sail, and you in your life vest hanging on to the deck. That boy's first sailing lesson almost made me sick, but you never flinched."

She did remember that. She must have been about five, so Jimmy and Kirsten had been thirteen. Way before they started dating, back when Jimmy was still just the boy next door. Those days (and her father was right, Jimmy had been awful at first) were her first memories of first truly loving the feel of being adrift in the water. Although thinking of the implications of her little girl crush again, she frowned once more.

"Why don't you come live at home?" Her father interrupted her train of thought, but at this she frowned a little deeper.

"How would you entertain Newport's favorite tramp with me watching E! in the next room?" Hailey asked, only half flippantly.

"We're never there. It's still to much..." Her mother's house. Hailey sighed deeply. "So you'll have the house to yourself most of the time. It'd be nice to have you around again. Besides, living with Sandy can't be that much fun."

Was he buying her? Did he honestly miss her? She wished she knew. However, he did have a point. And the thought of actually being at home again, even if it was just for a little while, was tempting.

"Okay, Dad. For a little while." One more thing to tell Kirsten tonight. Actually, maybe tonight with Sandy, and the boys, and their various girls was not the best time to talk to Kirsten. "Do you think I could ride with you back to the Newport Group?"

Was this uncomfortable conversation day ever going to end, she pondered as she flipped through Riviera magazine. Was Kirsten EVER going to be finished with her meeting? Maybe showing up at the office was not the best plan. Was it bratty to barge into someone's office to discuss yourself? Probably. And she did want to come off as well as she could when she had this conversation. You know, if that was even possible.

"Hey. Did you come back with Dad after lunch?" Kirsten asked as she came in.

"Yeah, he gave me a ride. Did you know what Dad wanted to talk about at lunch?"

"You, I assume." Hailey studied her feet. "I also assume that I probably don't want details."

"He asked me to move back home. I said yes."

Kirsten looked surprised, and then concerned. "You don't have to, Hailey. You're welcome to stay with us as long as you want."

"Maybe you want to check with Sandy about that. Anyway, I think maybe this is for the best." Plus, if her dad really wasn't home much, it would definitely make sneaking out to see Jimmy easier.

Kirsten sat down. "There's kind of more, Kirsten. As to why I'm here, I guess. And if you're going to get upset, just get upset at me. See, I kind of accidentally involved a lot of people in, well mostly in not telling you even though they knew."

"Sit down, Hailey. Who did you involve?"

"Well, I didn't, exactly. Most of them kind of involved themselves. But, okay, Sandy, Dad, Seth, Marissa, and Jimmy."

"So you weren't at Club Med."

"More at Club take your clothes off. I was sort of working as a stripper." Kirsten was silent. Hailey felt that word ominous would fit well in front of the silent. "Seth and Ryan and everyone saw me when they went to that "Valley" party. Anyway, I guess that Ryan called Sandy and Sandy told Jimmy and Jimmy's White Knight attitude toward Newport debs, even debs without their dresses, kicked in and he went to get me. And he arrived at a really great time, because. Well, never mind that part. So, then I was home."

"And Dad?" Kirsten said in measured tones.

"I think Sandy might have yelled the information to him when Dad said something about Jimmy."

"Hailey." In Kirsten's voice, she heard every disappointment she'd caused over the last ten years. It was enough to make her want to sign up for English teaching in Russia. Again. "I'm sorry."

"What?" Totally wasn't expecting that one.

"I probably shouldn't have interfered with you and Dad."

"Stop it. As you've told me like a thousand times, I'm a grown up now. So if I ended up as a stripper, totally my choice." Although, she blamed Kirsten too. Kirsten needed to accept she wasn't her mother. She didn't know everything about her, or her relationship with their Dad. But she kept her 'grown-up now' face on and pretended everything was fine.


End file.
